Tokyo to Begin Carbon Capture & Storage Project in 2010

The technology of carbon capture and storage is a long way from being commercially viable on any widespread scale. Enough doubts remain about its effectiveness that, despite political rhetoric to the contrary, we really probably shouldn’t hold out hope that carbon capture will save allow us to keep burning coal and still have a planet that is hospitable to life in the way it was been for all of human history. That said, research continues, with a Tokyo being the latest location to have a go at a large-scale trial of CCS: According to a post over at GreenPacks, by March 2010 Tokyo will start storing CO2 under the seabed at the rate of 100,000 tons per year. No word on final program costs, but in 2009, ¥3.3 billion ($35 million) has been allocated to the project.

Slightly Faster CO2 Storage Rates Than German ProjectFor those keen on comparisons: The daily rate of CO2 capture at this project is slightly under 11.5 tons per hour; which is faster than Vattenfall's pilot CCS project in Germany at 10 tons per hour.